‘Tis the season!   It’s hard to believe, but the holidays are upon us again.  And I want to open up a holiday giving option that can help out people who really want to be on the blog but cannot afford the membership fees.

As many of you know, last year, thanks to a number of generous donors, we pulled this off in a big way.  It happened in two stages.   Two anonymous donors had provided some funds to pay for memberships for a few people who wanted to be on the blog but because of personal circumstances, could not afford the membership fees.   I put out the offer on my Facebook page, asking if anyone was in that boat, and within twenty minutes I had thirty requests –all from people who were eager to join but simply did not have the means to do so otherwise.  I had to shut down the offer nearly as soon as I made it.   This made me suspect that there were a lot more people out there like that.

And so then it occurred to me that we could do more, in a big way, and I made an appeal to you, the users of the blog, to make gift donations.  By doing this, we were able to give out (a whopping) 72 gift memberships.  To qualify to receive one, a person had to send me their contact information and to tell me a bit about their circumstances, why they could not afford membership fees.  Luckily, virtually (but not quite) everyone who contacted me was able to be given a gift membership.

I would like to do the same thing this year, right now.   Would any of you be willing to donate one or more memberships during this holiday season?   Each new (year-long) membership would cost $24.95 – so let’s just say $25.      You could donate to the blog any increment of $25 that you want – so if you want to give one membership, it would be $25; two $50; four $100; twenty $500; 2153, $53,825.  You get the idea.

This would be a win-win-win situation.   You would be giving a tax-free end-of-the-year donation to the foundation (win for you); every penny would go to charities fighting hunger and homelessness (win for them); and each membership would go as a very nice present at this giving time of year (a win for each and every one).

If you are interested in participating in this membership gift program, you need to do two very simple things:  (1) send me an email at [email protected] (do NOT comment here, on the blog) indicating your intention to make a donation and specifying  how many memberships you would like to donate; and (2) make the donation on the blog (just click on the “Donate” tab).   I will be collecting these donations this week, until December 10, so that I can then know how many memberships I can give out – all to happen before Christmas.

 

Many many thanks to those who have already made donations to the Blog, and for all who are willing to do so now.